With the new law on state property, educational and health institutions become the property of local self-government

The government submitted the final proposal of the Law on State Property Management to parliamentary discussion on Thursday, and as emphasized by the relevant minister Goran Marić, the implementation of this law will impact employment growth and gross domestic product (GDP).

“The previous legal institutional forms related to the management of state property have resulted in long-term neglect, destruction, and even the seizure of state property. The final proposal of the Law on State Property Management is aimed at protecting and activating state property,” stated Minister of State Property Marić at the government session.

>>>Mr. Marić: The state is transferring property worth more than half a billion kuna to Split

As he asserted, the implementation will directly positively affect GDP, employment, state budget revenues, and the level of public debt, and partly also on demographic renewal.

Among other things, the goal of the new law is to explicitly define what constitutes state property managed by the Ministry of State Property and the Center for Restructuring and Sale (CERP) and to more clearly define the competencies in managing that property.

As an important change, it is proposed, among other things, that the Ministry will henceforth manage real estate on which camps are located, regardless of whether they are within the construction zone, as it has been determined that the management of these properties is currently unsatisfactory.

It is also proposed that the Ministry manage land that has been excluded from agricultural land if there are plans to build golf courses, hotels, camps, and other facilities for providing tourist services, sports and recreation services, or other similar commercial facilities.

Regarding strategic and planning documents, deadlines for their adoption and validity will be harmonized, in such a way that the validity of the State Property Management Strategy will be prescribed for a period of seven years, and the deadline for the preparation of the Annual State Property Management Plan will be by November 30 of the current year for the following year.

>>>Marić: The Law on State Property Management is a tool for removing the ‘perfect system’ of seizure

Also, with the aim of greater efficiency and faster decision-making regarding the management of state property, the new law proposes the abolition of two commissions – for the disposal of real estate owned by the state and for the management of strategic trading companies – so that all important decisions regarding the management of state property valued above 7.5 million kuna will be made by the government, while other decisions of lesser value will be made by the Minister of State Property.

The final proposal of the law enables the activation of real estate for which property rights have not been resolved, such as former resorts on the Croatian coast that have been deteriorating for years, in such a way that these properties can be leased long-term, thereby finally putting them into function.

This proposal of the law also regulates the management of temporarily seized property in criminal proceedings, thereby transferring the provisions of the European Parliament and Council directive on the freezing and confiscation of objects and property benefits obtained through criminal offenses in the European Union into the legal order of the Republic of Croatia.

One of the biggest novelties is that all real estate owned by the Republic of Croatia that, as of January 1, 2017, were schools, health centers, hospitals, and other institutions founded by units of local and regional self-government and used for educational and health purposes, cemeteries, morgues, monuments, parks, playgrounds, sports-recreational facilities, sports fields, community centers, fire stations, memorial homes, and markets will be registered as the property of units of local or regional self-government, depending on which authority is responsible for the establishment of individual institutions.

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The law also prescribes the possibility of disposing of real estate in favor of units of local and regional self-government for the purpose of implementing housing provision and socially motivated housing construction.

Additionally, the final proposal also anticipates that units of local, regional, and county self-government will be reimbursed the amount they paid to individuals as compensation for land seized during the Yugoslav communist rule, which has, according to special regulations, become the property of the Republic of Croatia.

The provisions regarding CERP are minimally changed, with better regulations of the powers of the Management Board, in which members will henceforth be designated ministers, not their deputies, so that higher quality discussions can be held during decision-making at the Management Board meetings.